It's Almost Here!

 

Eric Harrold and his Red-tailed Hawk "Whiskey"

Had a fun experience yesterday afternoon here on the acreage - Eric Harrold and his dog Daisy and Red-tailed Hawk Whiskey came for a rabbit hunt. Whiskey caught a really large (buck? Forgot to check) Cottontail! Was fun to watch the hunt!

"Whiskety" the male Red-tailed Hawk up close

"Whiskey" on the hunt!

I confess I was so enamored with Whiskey that I completely forgot to get shots of Daisy! (Sorry!!!) Daisy would run through the tall grass here and flush the rabbits out for Whiskey to stoop on. The first bunnies ran to our now giant wood pile - remember the huge tree falling here in October?

A great catch - Cottontail rabbit!

But we got lucky and a large rabbit flushed out of the south pasture, un-nerved by the dog and the hawk. It was caught and quickly dispatched by Whiskey...both Georgie and I got to see this in action!

Eric will clean and butcher the rabbit for Whiskey - birds of prey all need wild meat - Whiskey caught it - he gets it...just like in nature.

Hope Eric comes back as we still have tons of Cottontails!

The first Day of Winter is officially tomorrow!  Then the big day we always waited for as kids - Christmas!!!

I have an announcement of sorts to make for friends that have been on our Christmas Card list for years. I decided this year that I was going to stop creating and printing my own Christmas cards…I’ve been doing our own since 1966 when I did my first cards for my Mom…been doing it every year since!  I decided to finally “retire”!  Ha!!!  

It was actually a hard decision for me but my time and resources are much more limited than it used to be and I need to slow down in certain areas...so I will be posting our Christmas greetings on this blog and through my Face Book pages instead.

That's about 57 years of card designs and printing!  I remember back in the day doing them as linoleum block prints and then silkscreen prints...some cards took 3-4 weeks to print!!!  That's just crazy, but I was a lot younger then!  

Anyway here goes - (Still with our heart felt feelings!)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone out there!

Be good to one another - we are all we've got!

Heading Into The Solstice

"Winter Dawn - Little Sioux at Burnt Bridge"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 

Well we're sliding into the Winter Solstice tomorrow on the 21st - its hard to believe isn't it!  My mind's still stuck in August!

The thing I always look forward to come this day - the days gradually begin getting longer - which means more sunshine and "eventually" warmer days!!!  But I know that's not a very appreciative opinion of winter is it...sorry about that (fingers crossed behind my back).

The Winter Solstice is officially here Monday, December 21, 2015 at 10:49 PM CST; at least if you live in Sioux Falls, SD...but that's certainly near enough to us to make it count as "close enough"!

Like many other people, I hear reports of odd weather for this time of the year; we're no different.  The image above was 2 1/2 weeks ago south of the studio and the snow is GONE...hasn't even been cold enough for frost to enter the ground yet - and its nearly Christmas!  But we have had 18+ inches of snow at the studio since late November, so that at least sounds right for the eve of the solstice!

Either way - enjoy the new season, and get out there if you get a chance.  After all, the Winter Solstice only comes 'round once a year!

  

Before the Solstice

I think the eastern 2/3's of the country is thinking the solstice must have come and gone already...we're definitely in the "winter" mode for the duration now!

Our hearts go out to the eastern part of the country that are still feeling the effects of the ice storm last week - many still do not have their electricity...that'd be disastrous here as our heat is electric...pipes would freeze and break the first 24 hours!

We got to 10 below this morning, which isn't so unusual for NW Iowa, it just came so quickly that we feel the affects more I think. The 35-40 mph winds and snow maybe helped it sting a bit more too. I hope we're up to it but they're telling us 4-6 inches of snow and colder still tomorrow.

I used to really get into winter...didn't phase me one iota. That changes with the years; get ready for it if you're a kid!

I do enjoy one thing about winter still though. The visual sense of it is quite engaging. As I blogged last year around this time, I have done my own Christmas cards since the mid 1960's. I am still at it, and maybe if I can find some time around here I'll post some more past examples. But time is the enemy right now...after all I'm working on the 2008 Christmas card as we speak. Maybe I'll show it around a day or two before Christmas - after all I don't want to spoil it for anyone that is on my mailing list!

The real solstice is this coming Sunday (21st); keep warm out there!